


In Memoriam

by CelticKnot



Series: Mass Effect Fictober 2019 [9]
Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types
Genre: Fictober 2019, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Introspection, MEFFictober2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-09
Updated: 2019-10-09
Packaged: 2020-11-28 10:36:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20965157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CelticKnot/pseuds/CelticKnot
Summary: MEFFictober Prompt: Skeleton. Shepard visits the bones of the oldNormandy.





	In Memoriam

Shepard flew the shuttle down to Alchera personally. This was something she needed to do alone, and it wasn’t often that she got to actually pilot a ship anymore.

Besides, it would keep her mind occupied, keep her from brooding for the entire trip. The winds in Alchera’s upper atmosphere were no joke, and she was no Joker. She would have to stay on her toes to keep on course and land safely.

The final leg of the descent was even trickier. As she crossed into the troposphere, the winds kicked up again, this time carrying punishing gouts of snow and ice. Visibility dropped to zero, and she had to fly by instruments alone.

Fortunately, the shuttle had excellent sensors. When she finally emerged below the storm, she found the wreckage of the old  _ Normandy  _ spread out before her.

Her hands shook as she set the shuttle down, and for a long moment, she just sat there, staring.

It looked… dead. That was the only word she could think of. Yes, she’d seen the ship come apart under the Collectors’ barrage. She’d seen the explosion, bright as a nova and eerily, terrifyingly silent, that had reduced it to wreckage. But down here, great chunks of hull half-buried in the snow, support beams arcing into the sky like the bones of some huge animal, crates and equipment and escape pods strewn about like entrails… there was a special kind of horror to it.

It was the difference between seeing someone get shot, and coming across a decomposing corpse. Both were terrible things to see, but the latter spoke of neglect, of a vast, uncaring galaxy spinning on while tiny lives bloomed and struggled and died heedlessly, uselessly, within.

This ship had been her home for the better part of a year. Her crew had become her friends, her family. Dozens of them had died here, too, their bones buried in the drifting snow. Lost and frozen on a forgotten little world in the middle of goddamn  _ nowhere _ …

Shepard drew a deep, shaky breath and angrily swiped the tears from her eyes. She had a job to do, damn it. She wasn’t here to weep over the dead. She was here to honor them.

She checked her helmet seals and stood, willing her knees to stop trembling, and hit the door control. Even through the weather seals, the sudden cold knocked the air from her lungs. She couldn’t stay long.

Memories haunted this place like ghosts. It was time to put them to rest.


End file.
